Byron Shire Council investments in projects linked to fossil fuel production decreased significantly after the NSW Treasury Corporation (TCorp) relaxed rules last year.

For a bloke on a very large pension, former Prime Minister the not-so-honourable Tony Abbott is working very hard for the Institute of Public Affairs these days. His latest IPA speech in London was outrageously stupid, playing down the climate crisis even as his own country burns and the international numbers confirm the situation is more dire than ever.

Tamara Smith MP, Greens Member for Ballina, has today criticised the NSW government’s proposed Climate Change (Net Zero Future) Bill 2023, as residents of the Northern Rivers experience more frequent extreme weather events.

Byron Shire Council has been freed from a set of state government-imposed rules that had effectively forced it to invest with financial institutions linked to fossil fuels.

The Ballina Shire Council had more than $60 million invested in fossil fuel aligned companies on behalf of ratepayers as of the end of April 2023.

Independent Ballina Shire Councillor Jeff Johnson has lost a last-ditch effort to reinstate a council investment policy clause in favour of diverting from fossil fuels.

Several commentators have remarked that, while the mainstream media is locked in furious agreement with the government over AUKUS and the trillion dollar submarines (a guess at the final price tag), social and independent media are telling quite a different tale.

It is interesting to note how the energy transition and decarbonisation plans have been gaining prominence in the media for some time now. We can see it on the front pages of newspapers, in political debates, in governments’ strategic energy transition plans and in companies’ apparent climate commitments.

Amidst the rhetoric, what are the real numbers on Australia’s environmental performance?

Greens NSW Upper House MP Sue Higginson has today given notice of a bill set to ban fossil fuel advertising in New South Wales.